Will The C’wealth Games be Pulled Off Like a Big Indian Wedding?

Almost one year ago, October 3 to be exact, India’s Sport Minister Manohar Singh Gill likened the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in his capital city Delhi unto a big Indian wedding, in which chaos reigns until the last minute when everything ends in a well-planned ceremony. Well, in terms of big events, it’s the proverbial 11th hour before the Games begin on October 3 and, true to the minister’s word, chaos continues to reign for months.

C'wealth-baton

The Indian High Commissioner to Jamaica, Mohinder Grover (left), passes the Queen’s Baton to Commonwealth Games Federation chairman Mike Fennell, at the March 2010 high school championships in Kingston. DPalmer photo

Commonwealth Games 2010 has a catchy motto that invites all to “Come out and play”, but the prelude to the Games that is supposed to be a coming out of sorts for Indian athletics, has been fraught with problems ranging from graft scandals and a dengue fever epidemic to heavy monsoon rains and the shooting of two foreign visitors by suspected militants in Delhi to delayed construction and traffic chaos.

The tardiness in having certain key facilities in ready — such as wireless Internet, fitted toilets and plumbing as well as rubble, unused masonry and discarded bricks that littered the unfinished gardens — has caused major concerns in general. The collapse on September 21, 2010 of a pedestrian bridge outside the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium that injured 23 people made Games seems even more doomed.

Significantly, as if previewing the situation, the minister had also said, “We are at least 20 years behind in our organizing capabilities as well as the medal tallies to qualify for making a bid for [the] Olympics.” Commonwealth Games 2010, he said, should therefore be used to showcase India’s capability to host an event that may be smaller on scale but reflect the country’s seriousness “to knock at the doors of [the] Olympics Association.”

Back in the Caribbean, the usual buildup began with the Queen’s baton relay arriving in the region. Traditionally, the baton, similar to the concept of Olympic Torch, carries the Queen Elizabeth’s message from Buckingham Palace in London right around the Commonwealth, going to all member nations before reaching the host country for the opening ceremony at which the message is read.

The baton arrived in Trinidad and Tobago — the 31st stop of its 71-nation tour of the Commonwealth — from the Falkland Islands February 21 to a series of youth-oriented activities, geared to raise the awareness among the youth of the nation about the history and tradition of the Commonwealth Games and also the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games scheduled for the Isle of Man.

It then headed to Guyana, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Anguilla, and Antigua and Barbuda.

After crisscrossing the eastern Caribbean, the baton arrived in Jamaica up north in March for the final day of the 2010 100th Jamaica ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships at the National Stadium in Kingston. There it was carried around the track by several athletes of various Commonwealth Games sports, including Asafa Powell and Brigit Foster-Hylton of track and field. The Indian High Commissioner to Jamaica, Mohinder Grover, then handed it over to Games Federation chairman Mike Fennell, after which it was taken around the island.

From Jamaica, the baton was taken on a 4-day trip through the Cayman Islands for engagements at schools, official receptions and beach activities; the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Belize and Bermuda, before heading off to Canada.

Arrival in India

On June 25, the baton arrived in India from Pakistan through the historic Wagah Border (the only road border crossing between India and Pakistan) amid the ongoing controversies and embarrassments, and will enter Delhi from Gurgaon (the sixth largest city in the Indian state of Haryana) on Thursday, September 30 after working its way through the country.

Three months after its June arrival, a concerned Fennel flew to India on Thursday, September 23, and found reasons to believe that things were looking well, stating that all 71 nations will compete in Delhi although more work is needed on the athletes’ village.

“It is good to be in Delhi, and the briefing I received from my CEO Mike Hooper was that considerable improvements have been made within the Village, with further significant resources deployed by Delhi chief minister, Mrs. Dikshit, to make good what was a concerning situation.”

Such pleasing news, no doubt, has allayed fears that the venues will not be ready for the start of the event. After all, there were recent reports that the athletes’ village was ‘filthy’ and in no condition to be used. Toilets were not working, there was no electricity and security remained a serious issue.

On the other hand, there have been previous reports on how things were going outside the village. Some slums have been cleared, beggars were being dealt with and the city’s “often abrasive residents” were being groomed about welcoming foreign visitors.

Doubt Seems to be Clearing

But while the huge pall-like shadow of doubt over the Games seems to be clearing, another big issue remains: some track and field teams are watered down and many of the sport’s biggest stars will be absent for one reason or another. There’ll be no Usain Bolt, Leevan Sands, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Shelly-Ann Fraser or Christine Ohuruogu, just to name a few. Bear in mind, the traditional season for track and field ended in August. The good news is that the lesser known athletes will enjoy the opportunity to come out to the world.

To see the big guns missing in action in Delhi, fans will have to wait for less than a year when the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Athletics takes center stage August 27 to September 4 in Daegu, Korea.

With less than a week to go, one big question remains: after all the months of chaos and criticisms, will Delhi manage to pull off hosting the Games like it would coordinate a grand Indian wedding and silence the critics? Only time will tell.

 The Commonwealth Games at a Glance

The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event which is held every four years and features competitions involving thousands of elite athletes from members of the Commonwealth of Nations.

The Games also include some sports that are played mainly in Commonwealth countries, such as lawn bowls, rugby sevens and netball and are overseen by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), which also controls the sporting program and selects the host cities selected from across the Commonwealth.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games is the 19th, and the ninth to be held under that name. This year, the Games will be the largest multi-sport event conducted to date in Delhi and India generally, which has previously hosted the Asian Games in 1951 and 1982. The opening ceremony is scheduled to take place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi.

The Queen’s Baton relay – the longest relay in the world – travels through all 71 Commonwealth countries and by the end, it will have journeyed some 340 days and in excess of 190,000 km.

The baton itself is a twisted helix of aluminum painted on the outside by the varying soils of India. On the inside is a jewel-encrusted box with a message to the athletes from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, which shall be read aloud either by the Queen or her representative as part of the Games opening ceremony.